Rangers-Islanders in review

Told ya. This game was exactly what I expected … except that it really wasn’t very nasty. Come to think of it, other than the fights in the stands, it wasn’t nasty at all; and as I recall, last year the Rangers played better and played tougher in games that had some growl.

I also thought the Rangers were better than they were in Stockholm, except that their special teams and their penchant for taking way too many penalties, and some guy in a 91 jersey, turned this into a loss — their first according to the NHL standings.

Thoughts:

1) Speaking of fights in the stands, I was talking to a security guy, a Nassau Coliseum employee by the way, about all the fisticuffs. He laughed it off. Then he told me he loves this blog. God love him.

2) Boy, oh boy, did No. 17 have a tough night, and so did his buddy on the other side with the “C” on his chest. Somehow Artem Anisimov in the middle managed to have a decent game. Thought there was some effort from both wingers, but neither could get much done … and all of their penalties were penalties, though I doubt that Capt. Callahan’s goalie interference penalty will be called very consistently.

3) Not going to make a big deal out of the calls, either, but the Dan Girardi penalty, the puck was right there, the player’s in front of the net, if Girardi doesn’t play the man there he gets killed. He has to make that play. No choice. And I don’t think it should be a penalty. That, my friends, is pansification. And the Boyle call for delay, well, if the referee who called it really thought that was a penalty, then he could have called it 20 seconds earlier. But if you’re going to let a player freeze the puck — and his glove was not on top of it — then you can’t all of a sudden decide he can’t freeze it anymore.

4) That all said, the Rangers take too many penalties. And Del Zotto’s too-many-men penalty is exactly the kind you can’t take. You could see that the early PKs completely wrecked the planned forward lines the first half of the first period.

5) Rangers power play, with Brad Richards: 0 for the season.

6) Though I think Richards has played pretty well overall in the three games, and he sure has Gaborik going. Or maybe it’s that Gaborik is healthy. He looks, for the most part, like he did two years ago. And if you remember, he was nowhere for stretches of games that year, then, boom, he’d bury one or two and the Rangers would win.

7) And Derek Stepan was better than good on that line in his first shot as the No.1 left winger. Much better than good. You’re welcome, Torts.

8) You know what I saw in the Islanders last night? The 1996 Quebec Nordiques. I don’t know if they will ever be what those Nords became — the Colorado Avalanche — but I wonder if they will still be playing in the same place when they become real contender. I also wonder if the current ownership/management group can get it to the next step, because they’re not there yet. But they sure have boatloads of talent. Hard to praise them for it, too, because they’ve stunk for so darn long they’d better eventually get some top-notch talent. But they have it. They certainly do.

9) Was looking at that NYR fourth line and thinking, what a mess. It has no particular skill or purpose, made up of players who don’t mesh. So Mats Zuccarello is demoted — a move that might give the Rangers the cap room to get a defenseman — and Kris Newbury is called up. At least with Newbury and Mike Rupp, that line might be able to provide some bash. But I’ve got to tell you also that so far Rupp has underwhelmed me; not nearly the player I thought he was (again, so far). And about Erik Christensen, somebody who knows a lot about the team said, just when you think he couldn’t accomplish less in a game, he goes out and does.

10) Not sure I understood John Tortorella’s whole mea culpa on putting Brad Richards back on the point on the last power play, tied at 2-2. All I know is that in his mind, that decision somehow led to the Girardi penalty, which led very quickly to the winning goal, and I respect the coach taking responsibility for messing up, even though few probably realized he had.

11) Thought that this was Jan, er, Tim Erixon’s best game. But, geez, the depth of the Rangers’ D doesn’t look so great. I mean, last year they used four guys mostly. Now two of them are hurt, which puts way too much pressure on the two still standing. Michael Del Zotto was pretty good, other than his penalty and a couple of missed nets. Steve Eminger and Jeff Woywitka struggled badly.

272 Comments

I thought Rupp was gonna be another Prust for the NYR. And seeing that #6 out there made me seasick. I think # 6 should be retired. In fact, I firmly believe that the moment Darius Kasperaitis put that #6 on his sweater he spiraled into a deep depression.

Wow Bob,
3 games in? I thought Gabby was electric. The first line has great chemistry. The second line HAD great chemistry (last year), and Dubi will be fine. I think the Avery demotion, the MZA demotion, and the forthcoming EC demotion will make room for a NHL D man to take Emminger’s spot and things will stabilize at that point.

There were some glimmers of hope and good things that could eventually be. I can see this team starting off poorly and then somewhere in the mid point of the season finally getting their act together and making a strong finish. That would give a better end of season momentum rather than the past few years when strong starts have always sputtered.

Feel bad for zuke. He can play but needs top six minutes. He does not fit on this teams top six. Rupp is not the guy we all thought he would be. That Girardi penalty was not a penalty. Richards was out on the point and made a line change during the transition because he was dead tired and could not play defense so his late line change resulted in some running around and a penalty. Gabby looks real good and that power play will get hot. It’s only three games. And I would rather gave Hagelin bourque and Mitchell as the fourth line. Speed with some flashes. Better that current set up.

I don’t think 4th liners like Avery, MZA, etc. have anything to do with the NYR problems. The NYR didn’t practice properly, have personnel issues, and have major discipline problems. That is on management and coaching. This MZA demotion (given that the NYR need as much scoring as possible) is a precursor for a trade for an NHL capable Dman.

at the game last night boy do the rangers look bad. the parade to the box needs to end or this team has no chance of getting in a playoff race. i will say it again if they come home 1-4-2 or 0-5-2 with the way teams in there divisions are playing ex isles and devils this season could be over real early.

i dont want to hear this nonsense its early the same 2 pts now are just as important in march/april.

You know what? The Rangers wouldn’t take as many penalties if the refs didn’t call BS penalties. The one on Boyle was pure garbage. Even the Islanders’ announcers thought the one on Callahan was pure garbage. And the Girardi one was pure garbage. Take away 3 penalties and it doesn’t look quite as bad.

Stepan on the first line is a winner. Why did they take away his assist? He certainly earned it.

Do you why Rupp looks lost? It’s because he probably is? He’s got a lump of carcillo at center and a hobbit on the wing. Are they supposed to be a scoring line? Yeah, right. They sure as heck aren’t going to be a banging line with those two line mates. I know I’m going to hate saying this because I do not like Avery as a player, but he would fit in on a 4th line with Rupp more than EC and the now demoted Zucc. Bring him up and release Wolski and EC. Those two don’t even belong in Hartford. Just let them walk.

Barry, like I told you last night, he took a 10 minute misconduct penalty at the end of the Kings game, and the other four minutes were from fighting Perry, when they were both given two roughing minors.

The Rangers power play issues still come down to a lack of a shooter. I said it all last season, and Brad Richards doesn’t change anything. If there is no howitzer blast to respect from the back end, then opposing teams will cut off the lanes down low. Richards likes to distribute the puck and shoot from in closer, but has no room to do either because PKers can crowd him, since they can leave a point man unguarded without fear.

I don’t know whether it’s the travel or what, but the Rangers as a team do not look engaged. Christensen is an absolute joke, this guy couldn’t make less of an impact if he tried. No hitting, no urgency. Get Avery back here and make a trade for a legitimate D man who can SHOOT.

I don’t think shooting the puck was ever Del Z’s forte, so I never really expected goal scoring from him.

I’d take Souray over Eminger and Woywitka, for sure.

Souray could be good trade bait at the deadline for the Stars. He wont get them what he would have a few years ago, but maybe a 2nd round pick, if he has a good offensive year. A goal, and three assists in the first four or five games is not too bad.

I think you are on the ledge if you are seriously considering Souray. We went down that road with McCabe and we saw it went nowhere. You don’t need a big shooter on the point to have a good PP so long as everyone moves their feet and makes the defense move. I’ve never seen a more static PP than ours. Look at the Isles last night. Every one is moving all the time. If you stand still, the defense can clog all of the passing lanes. Everyone has to keep moving to open up lanes and to tire out the penalty killers.

I thought MDZ actually had a decent game last night. A bad case of the Averies, but good pinching, good instinct to shoot. Defensively just OK, but it wasn’t atrocious by any means. Especially considering he was paired with a North American rookie, it wasn’t too bad.

Rangers have 4 games in Western Canada – they’ll be lucky, IMO, to get 4 points in total, meaning after 7 games they very well may be looking at a whopping total of 6 points. That pace will mean they’ll be in the race for a lottery spot.

Mmmm….maybe we should be checking out the top prospects for next June’s draft!

Before the season my friend who is a islander fan wanted to bet me that the Islanders would make the playoffs and the rangers wouldn’t. I thought he was crazy until now. I actually think he is right. Teams that haven’t or didn’t make the playoffs last year are definitely better and the rangers at best look the same which won’t cut it this year to make eight place. I said to my friend basically what carp said in his recap. The Islanders have been bad for so long and drafting in the top 5 every year they should be good. This is starting to feel like it did back in the late 70’s when the islanders became really good even though it’s not only because that islander team became a dynasty and I don’t see that happening this time but the islanders are becoming a good young talented team. This is something the rangers never seem to be and that is a young talented team. I truly hate Dolan and his butt buddy sather.

It’s funny that I am now seeing everyone in the NYR Universe tweeting, blogging etc. what I said when Carp (much thanks again) let me guest blog during the preseason. Even with Staal eventually coming back and Sauer coming back shortly, they still are deficient on the back end. While it looks like McMonster is continually growing (both literally and figuratively) there is still no guarantee Sauer will make same jump forward. The NYR are asking two second year players to carry a lot of the load for this team.

Of Del Zotto and Erixon, Erixon looks like the more complete player. While DZ played his best game of the season (including preseason vs. Euro teams) he’s still very soft in his own zone and doesn’t show enough confidence in the offensive zone.

Eminger and Woywitka, in the words of Dennis Green, are what we thought they were. 6-7 depth defensemen types.

The biggest issue being ignored as usual around here is they have NO ONE in the organization (including AHL, Juniors etc.) that can play the point on the PP. Go luck around the league last night. Souray had another goal (1st credited but 4 others have deflected in). MA Beregon who no one wanted last year and TB signed him during the season had two bombs from the point go in. I’m not even going to mention that the NYR signed Redden and let Streit go to the Isles. With the NHL being called very soft to start the season around the league, you must have a strong PP (ie PHI – who only scores on the PP).

Bottom line here, NYR PP is really 3 on 4 because no one respects our point and therefore the PK crashes down on our forwards not allowing them room to get open on the faceoff dots or in the slot.

Trade Proposal>>>> Toronto wants to move Gunnarson and Bozak. Perfect, they can have Anisimov and a conditional pick.

Torts needs to send a message on the penalties. Time to start benching players who take bad ones. So, for instance, callahan’s penalty shouldnt have been punished, but gaborik’s hook at the end of the game was completely unacceptable.

— still no one who can shoot the puck from the point after how many years?

— after three years running the power play, maybe it’s time Torts takes that duty away from Sullivan? This team just stands still and passes the puck around the perimeter of the ice. They are easy to defend because they never try to use the middle of the ice both at even strength and on the power play.

— they are becoming easy to play against all of a sudden physically.

— they have at least 4-6 players on any given night that have no business playing in the NHL.

— when Torts cut Avery, he said that he was not one of the top 13 forwards on the team. If he believes that EC and Rupp are better and more effective players than Avery than Torts has no business coaching this team! He is allowing his personal feelings to interfere with what is best for this team. Like it or not, the team is tougher and more intense with Avery in the lineup! I know he is injured now but he would be a big improvement on the fourth line. Newberry sucks! A 30 year old career minor leaguer.

–Time to bring up Hagelin and Bourque and let them play on the fourth line.

— As I watch the dregs who play on the third defensive pair, I once again am starting to question Torts’ judgement. What would have been the harm in letting Mcilrath play his nine games to see what he can do. He improved with every pre season game he played and most certainly is tough to play against.

Anyway, it still only three games but there are many issues starting to manifest themselves in a bad way.

As for the Islanders lets not forget that they’ve missed the playoffs how many years in a row and gotten how many high draft picks? Even a blind squirrel is going to find an acorn once in a while. Obviously they have stockpiled many young talented players and will only get better with time. Our only hope is that Wang moves the franchise to Montana.

when you let the opposing team dictate the play RIGHT from the opening faceoff, and they are constantly chasing the opponents around the ice for 60 min, taking penatlies, blocking shots, and leading in hits. leading in blocked shots and hits is USELESS when this is the result. its also leads to nice injuries which will be sure to pile up.

Noone on this embarrassment of a “team” carries or holds the puck, its a constant dump off, dump in, chase it, hit someone, puck comes back out and the defense goes back misplays the puck, or doesnt, Henrik makes a save or doesnt, and its dump it back down again.

they really miss staal here. but didnt they know staal was hurt? before the season was about to start? he said he was having problems all summer, so did the geniuses think he was going to miraculously recover the day before the season?

there was one power play last night where they controlled the puck nicely, but that was about it.

almost every goal this season has been the result of a breakaway gaborik last night), or catching the opposing goalie sleeping (callahan and richards in europe), NOT the result of any hard work or plan.

this is the most thrown together pile of garbage in Ranger uniforms in years.

the first line looked ok last night, but with noone to carry the puck, its “get the puck to richards, who makes the pass to gaborik.” and that it.

the second line was fair at best, dubinsky is invisible for some reason.

the third and fourth lines are a joke. nice mixing and matching totalretard.

i love the excuses, the european trip, blah blah blah.

the f&^%$in coach is a JOKE and an embarrassment and clueless beyond clueless.

and you torts-shills will have plenty to say about that, but the players arent playing for him and thats a FACT CLEAR ON THE ICE.

Dubi looks out of shape. We need that line to be a top 2nd line in order for the team to score, I mean, top in the league. Dubi consistently dumped it in the zone rather than drive along boards or maybe, just maybe, passing to a teammate. Artie needs to be more selfish and carry puck through neutral zone. Watching B Rich will help his development.

Also, let’s all hold off coronating the Islanders just yet. They are good on offense because they don’t play defense. This always catches up to them as the season progresses. Their defense is terrible and it will catch up to them again.

I don’t give much creedence to plus/minus as a stat to determine a player’s worth, but I think it speaks to a team’s philosophy on defense. Look at Tavares’ plus/minus last year. They don’t play defense.

The penalties are not only a function of poor discipline, but they often happen because our forwards are trying to do too much defensively. When you have two Dmen who are borderline AHLers, you have to. Look, you can live with MDZ’s defensive shortcomings (he actually looked well offensively, but so-so in his own zone), coupled with his rookie as a partner, if they play limited minutes as a third pair + PP time. But not as a second shutdown pair. That’s where are problems mainly are. It’ll be a tough season if Staal doesn’t come back soon. Sauer, btw, has always been somewhat injury prone.

Doodie, if I’m not mistaken, Newbury doesn’t need to clear reentry waivers. Even though his contract in AHL is above threshold ( $105K), he is considered a veteran since he played more than 320 professional games and played less than 80 games in NHL over the last 2 seasons. Recalling him is an attempt to make 4th line what it should be. Why MZAwas sent down instead of EC is a mystery. Except for the cap hit difference ( less than $1M), it doesn’t make sense.

Bull dog- agree, they’ll be fine, not worried. The only issue I see is if Staal is out for long time, they’ll have to trade for a real defenseman, not a band aid. That will require major assets and will deplete our system.

Street is a good puck mover and PP QB but he is nowhere near Staal defensively. Aside from the fact that I disagree about McDonald having a good shot, even if he did, he still sucks. McCabe had a good shot and where did that get him this year? No job. Staios, eaton, jurcina (is he even on the team?), and mottau are retreads just like eminger and woywitka.

And I wasn’t even talking about the individual personnel. I was talking about the team philosophy. They don’t, as a team, have any commitment to defense.

Carp, I got the paper today and while having breakfast, I couldn’t bring myself to read your article. I think that’s the first time that’s ever happened, ever. Must have been the title… I didn’t want to let it ruin my awesome morning.

I just love how three games in and we are the Islanders of 05. Seriously, have any of you ever played the game? Yes – the play was horrible at times. Yes – and I agree here Carp – that the play of that 2nd line was not up to par. I also agree that the fourth line is a disaster. However- attention Chicken Littles: the sky is NOT falling!

Torts has to take the blame (and Sather) for some things: first – getting that top line squared away. If it was supposed to be Wolski, ok then that is explained with injuries – get it. However, you have plenty of stock to choose from – aside from Stepan – I say put Zucc up top – or one of the guys from Hartford if you dont want to screw with the other lines.

Also – if the 4th line is non-productive (a train wreck I call it) – then it needs to be destructed and again, good call up with Newbury to the club.

Dont panic – we are only 3 games in – lots of hockey to play. And to get fixed!

I like Torts, but it’s hard to argue with those claiming the team isn’t executing what he’s saying.

What’s most odd is that these same issues have been here for years and still remain under-addressed. Lackluster pp, not a strong enough defensive corps (figuratively and literally), and a jumble of mediocre offensive talent below the first couple players.

The Islanders have officially turned the page in my book, I don’t think they are a joke of a team anymore. Personallly, I would have been surprised if the Rangers were able to beat this team in regulation last night, with the caliber of the defense the Rangers put out there…The Isles have a a lot of good young, offensively talented players that know how to score…

The Rangers don’t (because we never finished in the bottom of the barrel)…It’s that simple…

man, you guys crack me up…where to start. If the “enforcer” on this team doesn’t have the last name kocur or fotiu or nilan he just sucks. We had chris simon “oh that guy sucked” even though he was one of the top three of his craft and could pot 15 to 20 goals a season. Rupp is not a heavyweight at all IMHO ( he is a light heavyweight), and is a more rounded player than anyone else we have had in that position in some time (since simon) and you guys are happy. I love fights, but he didn’t go with gillies last night and that was the right call on his part, but you guys gripe he doesn’t do anything. If he goes with gillies you guys gripe he shouldn’t have. GIVE ME A BREAK!!! Look at who he plays on a line with (already been brought up I know), you guys say MZA doesn’t get a fair shake with his linemates, neither does Rupp!!

i think they forgot to have EC follow Zuc to Conn. sending them both clears more space if that’s the reason.??? call up Mitchell too, he played witha lot of passion in pre season, then get that 4th line banging. they just arent playing tough enough. wake up boys the season started already!

I dont understand why we have a skilled 4th line. As much as I would LOVE MZA to do well, Where does he fit in our top nine? He doesn’t..at all. We have a solid line of CallyDubiAnisi, RichGabbyStep and PrustFedsBoyle.

Who else is there to go? We have NO! ROOM! for more skill and NO! ROOM! for guys that put pucks away. we need a guy like (DARE I SAY IT) Dan Carcillo who will piss the ever loving sh** out of you on the 4th line while he gets his measly minutes. Rupp is a QUALITY player. Maybe take a look in the mirror Sather, Slinging Weise for nothing was BONE HEADED.

You guys are lucky, I have to be at work in less than an hour and I’m not even warmed up!!

The can’t stay on skates syndrome….Everyone just destroyed guys like voros, boogie (RIP), and other rangers players who seemed to “fall down” a lot, guess what folks, you know who falls down A LOT and can’t stay on his skates??? PRINCESS DUBI. Now he hasn’t played horribly and I’m not saying trade the guy or anything, but let’s call a spade a spade and the guy cannot stay on his skates just like voros couldn’t!!

The D men…WOW!! I could go over this one all day…If you are not a precious rangers draft pick or slide around on your stomach half the game, it doesn’t matter who you are but YOU WILL SUCK!!! Doesn’t matter how you play in reality…YOU WILL SUCK!!!

The first fishie goal..eminger is a fault because he was blocking hank’s view, clearly it had nothing to do with the islander directly in front of him camped out (but we don’t need a guy to clear the crease right people)?? I mean eminger was just standing right in front of hank drinking a soda and eating a hot dog watching everyone else. If it was the precious mcdonut in the exact same position as eminger was, it would be someone else’s fault for not taking the shooter or not covering the guy who redirected the puck or something. Eminger is the only guy who regularly REGULARLY punishes people in the crease area, just watch the games objectively and pay no attention to names and numbers on the backs of ranger players!! You will become a bit more rational and the insights you offer might be a bit more ummm reasonable.

I am not saying eminger is a top guy because he isn’t , but he is apparently the new rozy or malik or redden…

Redden, I mean woywitka, hmmm let’s see first game with a new team, new partner, hmmm BANISH THE GUY HE IS HORRIBLE!! Oh wait, he didn’t play that poorly for a NHL third pair D man in those circumstances, but wait everyone thought he was going to be shea weber, my bad!!!

I brought up a question the other day and everyone pretty much ignored because we had to steer around it because it involves the COACH and apparently saying anything bad about the coach is just like saying anything bad about a precious rangers draft pick and we don’t do that

If the team is flat and playing poorly for games at a time, who’s at fault the players or the coach??

Sorry, I’m going with the coach! I do not think he is a horrible coach and I think over all he is doing a good job. I think he is a bit erratic at times on his decisions, pulled hank too early last night IMHO, but doing a pretty good job overall.

Right now, I think he is playing too many people too much and is more to blame at this point than the players for the play of the team.

Lastly,
how many 3 game winless streaks has this team had since the lockout? I’m not sure, but i bet a few. Relax folks, a 3 game winless streak is a 3 game winless streak regardless of when it happens. The team and the coach will be fine once they sort some things out and they coach and play better!!

Did anyone honestly expect Zuke to have success there? I’m glad that he’s demoted. Now, I can go watch him, Bjork, and Hagelin (if he isn’t traded for a 2nd rounder) play big minutes in CT while I devour slices of hot oil pizza at Colony Grill. It’s a win-win!!!

“Why MZAwas sent down instead of EC is a mystery. Except for the cap hit difference ( less than $1M), it doesn’t make sense.”

Unfortunately, it seems like 90% of the fans and management in NY don’t have the patience to let their young players learn on the job, especially with a guy like MZA, an undrafted, below-average sized player. Hopefully, they let Stepan keep that responsibility on the 1st LW, even if he struggles, because he has to learn how to play….he’s still a baby…

Plus, it is detrimental to MZA’s development to stay with the Rangers if he can’t get at least 12-15 minutes of ice time in game…EC can ride the bench all season….who cares…

Nice going Czechthemout 10:26
“when Torts cut Avery, he said that he was not one of the top 13 forwards on the team. If he believes that EC and Rupp are better and more effective players than Avery than Torts has no business coaching this team! He is allowing his personal feelings to interfere with what is best for this team. Like it or not, the team is tougher and more intense with Avery in the lineup! I know he is injured now but he would be a big improvement on the fourth line. Newberry sucks! A 30 year old career minor leaguer.”

Haven’t seen the game yet as I was in Hartford last night (more on that later) but the panic is more than hysterical. Between this and the convo I had on Twitter with Rob Simpson, really, after three games, all of which were not what a typical NHL team’s schedule entails, the dissension is kind of over the top, even for NYR fans. Too many pre-season games in rinks that are not NHL-sized is absurd prep for the season. Then to turn around immediately and have to adapt to an NHL-sized rink in yet another city was tough, but we still got two points against one top NHL team talent-wise and another with a line that is the best in the league. Then home to a week of practice before another game is played is just not the way momentum is gained as in a typical NHL season. We’ll be fine people. Not to count losing two of our top four D. Relax.

To someone above who said Dubi’s been awful, in the first game on the first line he was an absolute beast, so maybe you want to take a look at that again. Playing those meaningless games overseas before the season started to enlarge the coffers of CV only served to do that, did nothing for the team, and it showed. Only cements my view that CV cares not a whit about the fortunes of this team. Nonetheless, remember the fast starts in a few of the last couple of seasons and one fast start led to no PO and one where we barely got in. I’d like this team to struggle early and find its identity as the season progresses. Not sure that I want this coach helping the team find its identity, but I’m afraid we’re probably stuck with him (god forbid we get “sully” as a replacement!).

As for Zucc’s demotion, that’s idiotic. Step and Zucc were developing chemistry last year and started again this season. So what does that idiot coach do? Of course break them up. Just as he broke up the Pack line in the first game. I’m just shocked that this guy doesn’t get that concept. He thinks everyone should be able to play with everyone else and tries that out game in and out. In my mind, starting a season this way, you leave your known quantities alone. Pack line remains stable. Step and Zucc and another winger. Too bad WW got hurt, but try Feds on that line before you break up two other combos so now every line is harmed. Hopefully Rupp finds himself sooner rather than later but change is not always easy. And the less said about EC…

Bringing up Newbury for Zucc as I said is just wrong. Newbury is not an NHL player. He’s perfectly suited for the AHL and played ok last night. Hagelin was amazing last night. His speed is off the charts. But he’s not ready yet. Neither is anyone else on that roster IMO. For some reason Bourque didn’t play and the Pack used Niemi as a forward, and nobody yet has been able to explain that to me. The Pack sure made the Isles goalie of the future, Kevin Poulin, look more than ordinary, but our guy in net, Chad “not ochocinco anymore” Johnson, now #30, is too slow to be an NHL netminder. I liked him a lot when he was called up two season ago but he seems to have regressed in his play. That was disappointing. Brendan Bell showed why he’s not playing in the NHL. Wade Redden, “rumored” to have broken his leg, which turned out to be a joke I guess, might as well have broken it because he was totally invisible out there. Parlett showed nothing of the offensive game we thought he had in TC, and wasn’t that good defensively either.

Bad night, losing to the Isles twice, but once we get the kinks out, play some games on an every other night basis, I bet we’ll be fine. I might go out on a limb here and say after this roadtrip you’ll all be pleasantly surprised how well it went (fingers crossed!).

I get it that its only three games, but its not like this is some entirely new lineup.

its essentially the same team as last year, with richards instead of drury, and rupp instead of avery.

otherwise its the same bunch of players and there is no reason why “there?s testing at work” and why it looks like theyve never played with each other before.

Ad the difference between me and you carp, is that if this team came out and looked great, i would be the first one to eat my words and say i was wrong about turderella, and be happy i was wrong. You,n the other hand, refuse to even acknowledge that there is a potential Ranger disaster here, and that the clueless coach “in charge” might be implicit in what is happening, or more accurately what is not happening.

and also, i didnt mention Avery or my love of Avery in any of my comments because im over it, and know that with or without Avery this team is a mess.

and you don’t think the young core is going to get better? you think it’s going to get worse? what disaster? They are in the hunt for 6-7-8-9 the last week of the season again in a conference that is nothing but virtually equal 3-11?

and when you use stuff like “turderella” that pretty much says to me that no matter what he does, good or bad, you’ve already drawn your conclusion. And the conclusion I draw from that is it must be your love for Avery that has your mind set. What else could it be? the constant improvement of the team since he’s gotten here? The building? The teaching of young players? The patience? The identity and work ethic and all-for-one concept? what could you not like about the direction? Must be that Avery’s not here.

Everyone doesn’t want to make excuses about the travel and going to Europe, but I will make excuses. It didn’t give this team a proper camp, it didn’t give this team proper time to practice their style of hockey, it didn’t give the team proper time to practice the PP, and it had us playing lesser talented teams in rinks that were not NHL regulation size. Fine, you can argue they are professionals and to get over it, but IMO they played much better as a team in the pre season games against NHL teams than they did against the European teams. These first few games are essentially like camp for this team. Every year I give them 10 games before I start making any real comments about the team. They have looked very unsettled at times, they take way too many penalties, and the D is all over the place. Makes sense with Staal out and Sauer out. Sure, everyone wants their team to come out and win every game, but it is not going to happen. As for last night, and I said this a few days ago, the Islanders are going to be a pretty decent team this year. A hard working team that makes the other team earn their wins. They remind me of the rangers the year after the lockout. I think this team is going to be OK, things will come together, and I really do believe we will make the playoffs. Not joining anyone on the ledge just yet.

… Or does one loss to the Islanders change everything that happened last year? I mean, if they’d won that game 3-2 instead of losing it, they’d be 1-1-1, which would be pretty decent considering the schedule, travel, injuries, etc. But I guess the loss to the Islanders (who are not bad anymore) means there’s a disaster directly ahead, and that this roster is suddenly the worst “pile of garbage” in years.

if you jsut want to look at the numbers and not even watch the games, sure, who cares if they are 0-3 after 3 games.

if you actually watch the games, they have looked disjointed, clueless, and directionless. no shots on goal for extended stretches, horrible penalties, zero chemistry.

the schedule?? they played 2 games in europe and then had a full week off. whats so terrible about that? 3 other teams played in europe also. they arent complaining. they are one of 3 teams that havent won a game yet.

Carp Pls let us all know when this testing, as you call it, will be complete. How many years does this egomaniaic require. Regarded a crush on Avery. I, simply, dislike injustice and the way certain players are judged by a different set of rules. I’m sure you understand what I mean as you’ve had this bias re: Avery for quite sometime.

Firetorts, I am not sure if you are suggesting that I don’t watch the games, or someone else, but if it is Rangers related, I am watching it. And yeah, a week off. That was a week of not watching the rangers play a game, and that was a week off of the rangers not playing a game. I think a full week off was not a good thing at all.

It is quite ludicrous, and childish, to suggest that anyone around here doesn’t watch the Rangers games. I think everyone simply being here, on a NON-GAME day, to talk about the Rangers shows how much everyone here cares and I would assume how much they watch the games!

I truly believe that if we can get the penalties down, you will see more jam from this team. We will see more flow in the game when lines are established and playing together in stretches. We have not seen that yet. Any team that takes as many penalties as we do will look disjointed.

I said it on Friday: The Rangers 3rd line would be most teams 4th line. Therefore, their 4th line will have to be made up of AHL players that are high energy guys that can get out there and provide JAM. Newbury has shown me plenty. Give the ^hobbit wizard^ the minutes he needs to flourish and get him back up here when he’s ready to be a 2nd or 3rd line guy!

The Avery love is not justified. Torts is a quality coach and th team I improving. Don’t forget that three games in the rangers did not have opportunity for last change. So certain players could get exposed more frequently. The defense us actually playing well considering. Rangers had more jump lat night and AA out played his linemates which not happen that often. Three games.

And Rupp is not delivering yet but it is three games. He will.

MZA needs more minutes feel ba for him because he could add offense and skill to this team. Just cannot get on the ice. Who on the right does he supplant. Prust maybe. But prust is a prototype third liner. So sucks for zuke. His cap hit makes him a line up casualty.

I love the people acting like Mike Rupp was anything more than a 4th liner. There’s no way a guy like that could ever work on a Tortorella coached team. The only significant accomplishment Mike Rupp will have by year’s end is duping Rangers management into giving him an absurdly bloated contract. He’s a bum.

As for Dubinsky, he’s adequate for what he is: a 2nd or 3rd line checking forward. On this team he’s probably a 2nd liner because there’s really only one other 2nd line player on the team. He has no business on a top NHL line because he just doesn’t have the hockey sense to support scorers. I also think he’d be a more effective player if Tortorella wasn’t the coach.

I’ve been pretty happy with the Richards-Gaborik pairing, but damn, there’s even less after those two than I thought there would be. Callahan will get it going at some point but there’s so little of a supporting cast on this team that I can’t see them ever scoring more than a couple of goals with any consistency.

The power play sucks (and will continue to suck) because it’s the same problem the Rangers have had since Leech was here, and more to the point, since Leech and Zubov were here. Michael Del Zotto isn’t the guy to qb a power play and I don’t see anyone in their system who can fill the role either. Sauer and Staal are nice players but they’re not guys who are going to improve this power play dramatically.

LOL@ Tortorella already tossing players under the bus after three games. Is Mats Zuccarello really the reason your squad is winless in three games? Is Kris Newbury even going to get enough ice time to justify his bus ticket from Connecticut? Come on, now.

Lloyd: I agree that Rupp is a 4th liner. He better be the leader of our 4th line…but whatever. Del Zotto is NOT the solution to the PP. We have got to try someone else on the Point. Please. Anyone. Just try something else. The PP is MISERABLE.

fire, you’re right. I haven’t watched any of the games. And I’m not going to watch the next 79 plus playoffs, either. I’m just going to pontificate on the improvement of the organization from three years ago to two years ago, then the marked improvement last year, and the improvement I still think (guess?) is coming. But I don’t watch games, and neither does anybody else here. Other than you, of course.

Lloyd, Rupp is a fourth-liner. Nobody said anything different. He could move up to a third line with Prust/Boyle and be effective. But the fourth line right now is a disjointed mess. I think Newbury improves that because they can at least be rugged and make things uncomfortable, even with the soft guy still on that line for — egads — breakaway contests. Rupp is a better fourth liner than anybody they had. He just hasn’t been very good in the first three games. I still suspect he’ll be better because he was pretty decent in that role for a much better/deeper team.

I don’t think Zuccarello is being blamed at all, nor do I think this demotion means he’s done as a Ranger this season. I just think he and Christensen can’t play on a fourth line. One or the other, barely, but certainly not both. So he might as well go get some quality pro minutes. And in the meantime, it clears some space in case they can make a deal for a D-man.

Another reason for Newbury’s recall might be that Torts is looking for an extra body on the PK. With the 90 gazillion penalties they are taking, it might not be a bad idea to not use Cally and Dubi so much since they’re needed at even strength and PP too.

My beef with the Newbury move is I don’t think he’s going to see any significant ice time. Tortorella really only plays the same six guys, particularly at crunch time. He occasionally responds to goals by sending out the third line – a move that’s always baffled me – but I can’t see Kris Newbury getting anywhere near the ice if the Rangers are down a man anywhere beyond the first half of the game. Also, I’m sure you’d agree that if you’re making roster moves to load up on penalty killers, the team is probably headed in the wrong direction. I know that several of those penalties last night were bogus, but anytime you hand a team 8 (or more) PPs, you’re basically conceding the game.

I just see a lot of same old same old with this club and I don’t see any indication that Tortorella is the guy to right the ship.

also, that shot Prust gave to Nabokov’s head was classless, particularly since the guy was literally injured a minute prior. has anyone taken him to task for it or has it gone unnoticed since Prust doesn’t have a 16 on the back of his jersey?

The people on the Fire Torts bandwagon who seem to think the Rangers were on the cusp of being the best team in the league until Avery was cut are one thing.

But I really don’t know what to make of the people on the Fire Torts bandwagon who in one breath express their total disgust for the coaching performance and in the next set out why the roster is 100% full of total stiffs. You can’t really have both ways, unless you are truly arguing that this team and coaching staff is as bad as the immediate pre-lockout years.

But hey, I don’t watch any games either, so I’ll defer to firetorts et al…

The roster is crap, no argument there, but I also don’t think Tortorella is the guy to get superlative performances out of a mediocre squad either. Hell, many of the better teams in the league have pretty lackluster personnel and still manage to perform.

But in a sense, you might be right. Maybe it’s just splitting hairs to say that this team coached by Tortorella is an 8 seed and helmed by a better coach is a 7 seed. Either way they’re not going anywhere.

Mr. Tavares: To infer that our fearless leader, Mr. Carp, has nothing better to do all day than post on his own blog is quite absurd. I know for a fact that he is a terrific, and very involved, landscape artist. Further, he covers other sports for Lohud and wouldn’t have the spare time to make up characters and post here frequently.

however, I see nothing offensively (apart from maybe Stepan) that suggests a particularly bright future. I don’t buy that Dubinsky is a guy you can pin future hopes on. Callahan is a nice player but he’s 25/25 at best – the league is packed to the brim with 50-point forwards.

Lloyd, I don’t agree that the roster is crap. It is still down a quart of skill, but it now has 2/3 of a first line, legit second and third lines, and when healthy, four very good top-4 defensemen, and two excellent goalies.

I don’t see Newbury doing more than taking fourth-line faceoffs, playing 6-8 minutes, and maybe killing some penalties … so maybe some of the other lines can stay together after a PK.

I am no longer going to argue about the coach. Those who think he’s a simpleton and an idiot obviously aren’t going to change your minds. I will just say he’s probably the best coach they’ve had as long as I’ve been covering the team in terms of teaching and preparation and the way he’s involved in the building process and the handling of young players. You can think whatever you want. I see a lot of practices and a lot of stuff behind the scenes (even if I don’t watch the games).

Boyle had a nice season but, really, what’s the best you’re getting out of him? 40-50 points? I could see him being a bit like Bobby Holik was before the Rangers got him but he’s not a difference-makerr. He’s a nice third-line forward and I think he’ll be a useful component. Anisimov is a very soft player who at his absolute best will put up stats comparable to what I just forecast for Boyle. Again, an adequate player but not a difference-maker. Del Zotto is a total stiff. If he makes it at the NHL level, it won’t be with Tortorella coaching the club. I’ll bet however much you’d like that he becomes a likely healthy scratch when Sauer and Staal return.

Zuccarello? Come on.

The other guys you listed are prospects with no NHL resumes. I’ll withhold opinion on them except to say that I have very little faith in the Rangers ability to scout top line talent.

“Anisimov is a very soft player who at his absolute best will put up stats comparable to what I just forecast for Boyle”

WRONG. You are not a prophet. You have no idea what he’ll be.

If you watched him last night, you noticed a more physically engaged player than we’ve seen years past. He made a lot of strong moves to the net…the was one of the better Rangers last night…Artie is progressing just fine…

But, what do I know? …I don’t watch the games as well as other people do…and I’m a Torts lover…so, thus, I lose all credibility….

Lloyd – seriously – For the last 2+ years everyone has said that as Artie Partie learns to be a bit more physical and use his size more he will develop into a top line player. Why do you think every team that tries to trade with the Rangers immediately requests Anisimov? I know you don’t trust the Rangers scouts but maybe you trust the other teams’ scouts?

Since you deferred to me LW, I dont think the Rangers were on the cusp of being the best team in the league until Avery was cut, nor do i think the roster is 100% full of total stiffs.

I think there are some good players with lots of potential, and i would love to see if another coach can get more out of them….one that can recognize talents and get the most out of his players.

as far as not arguing about the coach, theres nothing to argue.

if hes the “best coach they’ve had as long as I’ve been covering the team in terms of teaching and preparation and the way he’s involved in the building process and the handling of young players” then let him prove it and get this team going.

its that simple. if they continue to play like this he isnt the best coach, sorry.

if behind the scenes you like what hes doing, thats great, on the ice it doesnt show. so all your pro torts nonsense is just rhetoric, “hes the best” “hes great with the kids” “the direction” etc…

you guys watch hockey and aren’t aware of the level of parity in the league? was that Boston Bruins lineup really all that explosive? who were the scoring dynamos on Pittsburgh? Chris Kunitz was the number 3 scorer on the Penguins. would you put him on a top line?

there’s a fair number of consistent mid-level talent who are well-coached and know how to execute from game-to-game. these teams aren’t composed solely of superstars.

Don’t completely disagree with you on that point, Lloyd. But I don’t think the Rangers are exactly a million miles away from your description of teams with “consistent mid-level talent”. Suspect we disagree with quite how much the coach is getting out of them.

And the whole point of there being parity is that the Rangers are reasonably likely to be not all that far in the standings from the top three or four in the East and equally not all that far from those missing the playoffs by a few spots. So other than winning a couple of playoff series that precisely nobody had the Rangers as favourites in, I fail to see how the team’s “failures” under this coach are quite as dramatic as people are making out.

Had a feeling you might reference the Bruins. Wouldn’t disagree that they aren’t loaded with offensive superstars and their current make-up bears some resemblance to how the Rangers are constructed. They haven’t overly impressed me when they’ve played the Rangers over the last couple of years.

And I think Julien is a good coach, albeit with a pretty negative style. Would you have fired him after the Bruins flamed out in 2009 in the second round after being the #1 seed in the East or after they blew the 3-0 lead against the Flyers in 2010? Because they were almost certainly bigger failures with a more favoured team than anything Tortorella has presided over.

On the Penguins specifically, depends entirely what you mean by “top line” talent. Kunitz clearly isn’t an 80-90 point player, but he’s a decent 20-25 goal complementary player alongside better players. Hardly unheard of for such players to fill that role.

Crosby has had a rotating cast of Dupuis-like third line talents alongside him for years. And as impressive as Bylsma and his team did (not that I like saying that) after Crosby and Malkin went down, they still went a full zero rounds further than the Rangers did without them.

it’s funny how the Isles fan has to come here to have an audience, as I believe Mr. Carp touched on. There aren’t any Isles fans out there on the Interweb, so why not come here and flap your gums. lol, what a joke.

Oh, wait, maybe that guy is actually a Ranger fan that ‘cheers’ for his team by talking smack about them? Like a reverse psychology thing? hahaha, what a crackpot! You poor, sad individual.

Hey Carp, maybe if you watched a game every once in a while, you’d know what you’re talking about, geez. hahaha :b

This edition of the NYR isn’t the team to develope their youth , Torts isn’t a nurturer .. so guys like MDZ zuc etc will be shown the bench and door. So the go for the quick fix FA signings and get nowhere.

Guess we should all write the season off – especially since Sean the Shoulder is now a beached Whale.

As Carp has said many times – anyone who doesn’t appreciate what this coach is doing with this team – especially from a teaching standpoint – grooming young players to do the right thing – doesn’t know the game as much as they think they do.

Adversity is part of sports – and part of life – sometimes, you gotta go through some tough times to truly appreciate the good times.

Man, how do some of these boneheads deal with everything else that’s going on in their lives?

Thought so, Carp. Kinda puts your earlier statement into focus about how good of a manager Torts is. Sometimes its not always the final product that we the fan sees that counts, but the stuff behind the scenes that really makes a difference. I get the feeling that despite what he says, Torts really does care about his players and while he needs to get results, he’s more concerned with how the develop as players (and to a lesser extent as people). Just an outsiders open, of course..

Lloyd- You claim that Torts “only plays the same six guys” and others talk of his non-use of a fourth line as if a reduced role for the bottom 3 forwards is so out of line with what other coaches do. Do you have anything to back that up?

How would it hurt the D to bring in the kid cruncher for a look? Fowler already has too much of an NHL career head start on him, making that draft look like another Sather fiasco, so let’s see what the hell we have here, a bust or at least some grit on the backline, which this team definitely needs. If we had drafted Fowler, of course he, too, would still be 2-3 years from sticking in the NHL.

This season is starting to look like this team is in trouble and needs to catch lightning in a bottle, and it won’t be via a trade, so the system has to kick-in something big, right now. Mac, Hagelin, etc. a big addition and soon, some talent up front or some grit on the blueline, or both. What’s to lose besides more games if the front office doesn’t recognize that positive upgrade help is a phone call or two away.

Hey guys/gals, long time between posts, it is way too early to start talking about trading guys or that this team will stink. I think the decision to keep EC and demote Avery was a bad choice and it most likely was Torts doing. I say give it a month and let see what happens. By that time, we should get somewhat of an idea of how the season will go.

I’m not going to get into Torts discussion, just a reminder- two years ago we finally got a sense that we had a different team than we had in years. The one with “black and blue” attitude. How easy we forgot.

To the Islanders fan- you’re certainly welcome here. Even with your attitude of making fun after three regular season games. As long as you don’t continue with personal attacks, especially on the blogfather. And as long as you stick around when your team is at 10th-11th spot again. It will happen this year. Next year- maybe not, but this year it will.

Lloyd his name is Leetch. Not Leech….Not sure if that helps your credibility in general….

Carp you have to admit, for a young, somewhat patchwork team that the Isles have been, Snow getting these guys like Rolston, Eaton, Pandolfo, Staios and Reasoner has really shored them up with the guys that are good there like JT, Moulson, PAP, Comeau, Nielson and Grabner. Theyve been put together with honest wit and a sprinkle of luck. PAP was ready to break out, as are a lot of the players that theyve had over the years. Give someone a chance, they’ll shine. I dont think a Franz Nielson or a Matt Moulson would have gotten ANY time other than in an NYI uniform. Matt Moulson: Annual 30 Goal Scoring winger

AA is exactly what he is, btw. Second line center. Not more, not less….No one is arguing otherwise. And Newbury is here to make a fourth line what it should be- a banging, physical line. EC’s and MZA’s game isn’t exactly that.

Some good points, Wicky….I still feel that Eminger was used by Molson as a screen. Eminger was better at times last year. He also wasn’t asked to play similar minutes. Woywitka is simply underwhelming at the moment. Interestingly, both were first rounders.

sorry, Mickey. I meant to say that Brooks was awesome to be around. He was already a legend, obviously, and he was hilarious (“Mike Eruzione believes in free speech, he just doesn’t give them”). I’m not sure his system ever translated well to the NHL, and he was one of those fitness guys (“The legs feed the wolf”) when being in shape meant not hungover. So maybe he was ahead of his time.

Still, he had a rag-tag Smurf team and might have had a little more success if he didn’t have to go up against the Islanders dynasty all those years in the playoffs … and if Barry Beck could have stayed healthy for a little while.

No worries, Carp. I think Brooks is just a fascinating figure, in all honestly. As you said, he was ahead of his time. Must have been a trip to cover him. And being in shape meant not being hungover- LOL. That happens so rarely these days, I think..

poor sam rosen call the eagles skins game in dc today then has to get on a plane to vancouver. probably no direct flight and stop overs. next week the rangers play in winnipeg mionday night how will same get there from whatever game hes doing next sunday for fox.

>>>poor sam rosen call the eagles skins game in dc today then has to get on a plane to vancouver. probably no direct flight and stop overs. next week the rangers play in winnipeg mionday night how will same get there from whatever game hes doing next sunday for fox.

Sam probably will not be there in Winnipeg – we’ll probably be “treated” to having someone else calling that game.

oh by the way went to go get the wife some breakfast from local coffee shop that makes some great french toast this morning and whos sittitng at the counter alone at 7am mr john amirante. lives 5 mins from my house. real nice guy he said this might be his last year.

he starting to get up there in age. remember hearing him when i was like 6

They didn’t play for a week. Islanders just came of a win. The Ranger’s 2 best D didn’t play. No 4th line chemistry. Islanders had line change advantage, there were some lousy calls some stupid penalties and they still were in the game till the empty net. I forgive them but Torts should know an extra skater is not a Ranger advantage.

okay you clueless hockey people. Dont make me defend Dubi again because you don’t know how to play hockey. He has had a rough start, but jeesh. Its not even worth my time.

I havent been overly impressed withl the boys yet, but I see potential.

Hank is hot as usual.

Girardi must have taken some sort of pills over the summer. I could point out some glaring flaws in his defense last year. They are all gone in a big way, he is definitely the most improved guy on this team.

Gaborik looks well rested, andhe is moving and shooting a lot better this year too.

Richards. I haven’t seen enough hockey to figure him out, but he is definitely a good hockey player. Hell of an upgrade.
.

Jimbo,
it is new smart phone Samsung Galaxy S2, successfully challenging(better) iPhone 4S. I was waiting for it for so long to become available for T-Mobile and it was worth it. RR blog become very first app.

Alas, I only have an old-fashioned cell phone – I fear that if I ever got one of those smartphones that I would spend myself poor from the airtime and bandwidth charges – and I might be staring at the phone while crossing a street and walk in front of a crosstown bus!